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Title: The debunker: Think ObamaCare will save lives? Think again.
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Published: Apr 8, 2012
Author: Mark LaRochelle
Post Date: 2012-04-08 09:41:52 by CZ82
Keywords: None
Views: 1385
Comments: 4
The debunker: Think ObamaCare will save lives? Think again. by Mark LaRochelle, 04/02/2012 As the Supreme Court was preparing to consider whether the Constitution empowers the president to force American citizens to patronize a particular private industry, the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Bluey obtained a remarkable White House strategy memo. Administration officials, it reveals, are coordinating with liberal activist groups to pressure the court to ignore constitutional issues, and to focus instead on “real people and real benefits that would be lost if the law were overturned.” The administration’s message is that the need for ObamaCare is so urgent that obstacles like the Constitution must be swept aside. Such trifles cannot be permitted to obstruct the United States from joining the civilized world of socialized medicine. After all, the U.S. has the most expensive and worst medical care of all industrialized nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international organization of (mostly) western democracies. BUNK Let’s compare the actual results of pre-ObamaCare medicine in the U.S. with OECD averages, as reported by the OECD itself. Comparing the most common causes of death—heart attack, stroke and cancer—yields surprising results. Contrary to myth, average mortality rates in the OECD are actually higher than in the US across a wide range of such risks: •Heart attacks: the rate of in-hospital mortality following acute myocardial infarction: 26 percent higher •Strokes: 45 percent higher for women; 54 percent higher for men •Cancer: 5 percent higher for women; 11 percent higher for men •For the most common cancers, average OECD mortality rates are also higher than in the U.S.: •Prostate cancer: 28 percent higher •Colorectal cancer: 32 percent higher •Cervical cancer: 52 percent higher For breast cancer, the 5-year survival rate in the U.S. is 7 percent higher than the OECD average. But perhaps the most perfect comparison is between the U.S. and Canada. In both countries, smoking rates fell from 42 percent in 1965 to 16 percent in 2009, but Canada has a European-style single-payer health system. The result: the mortality rate for men with lung cancer is 5 percent higher in Canada than in the U.S. All this excess mortality under socialized medicine means that many people in the OECD die unnecessarily. ObamaCare, bringing this system to the U.S., means that many Americans will face the same fate—although these are probably not the “real people” the administration wants the court to focus on. Okay, so socialized medicine kills people. At least it’s cheap. Or is it? Has any democracy ever spent less on medical care after increasing government involvement? U.S. government spending on medical care was relatively constant, at about one percent of GDP, until 1965. That year marks a sharp inflection point, ending this period of relative stability and beginning our era of runaway spending. What happened that year? Medicare and Medicaid were enacted. "Source: Christopher Chantrill. USGovernmentSpending.com, Time Series Chart of US Government Spending. Health Care: Fiscal Years 1950 to 2010." Indeed, over the last decade real per capita healthcare spending in those OECD countries most frequently mentioned as models for the U.S. to emulate grew at rates comparable to the United States. "Source: OECD (2011), Health at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators (OECD Publishing), Annex A, Table A.6., p. 195." If future spending in the U.S. follows the pattern of these “models,” our medical costs under ObamaCare will go up, not down. In sum, if the court sustains ObamaCare, we will have surrendered the constitutional freedom for which generations of Americans have given—and are still giving—their lives, for the privilege of paying more, so that more Americans can die. Are these what Obama considers “real benefits that would be lost if the law were overturned?”
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#1. To: CZ82 (#0)
(Edited)
Forget about average, what about individual countries? There seems to be wide variation: There are also far fewer doctors in Britain: 2.5 per 1,000 population, compared to 3.4 in France. The survey also found that British heart attack patients were more likely to die in hospital than others in the Western world. In 2007, 6.3 per cent had died within 30 days of admission - compared to 4.9 per cent across the OECD, and 2.9 per cent in Denmark. Britain also performed poorly on keeping asthma and diabetes sufferers out of hospital - reflecting badly on the quality of GPs. In Britain, 75 out of 100,000 people ended up in hospital with asthma in 2007. In France the figure was 43 and in Germany, just 21. The report found that Britain spends more than the average OECD nation on healthcare: just short of $3,000 (£1,850) per head of population. I say we choose the systems with the best outcome and do that. BTW, how many American heart patients are treated under Medicare, the military, or the VA?
Anyone claiming to be an expert is selling something. I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. Aaron Bady
A large majority of the heart disease AND the cancers listed (esp prostate and colo-rectal) occur in patients over 65 and hence they are eligible for and treated under Medicare.
Almost every country in the Middle East is awash in oil, and we have to side with the one that has nothing but joos. Goddamn, that was good thinkin'. Esso posted on 2012-01-13 7:37:56 ET
Three cheers for socialism!
Anyone claiming to be an expert is selling something. I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. Aaron Bady
I wonder what our stats would be without Medicare - both in terms of cost, and survival?
Anyone claiming to be an expert is selling something. I brandish my ignorance like a crucifix at vampires. Aaron Bady
Contrary to myth, average mortality rates in the OECD are actually higher than in the US across a wide range of such risks:
#2. To: lucysmom (#1)
BTW, how many American heart patients are treated under Medicare, the military, or the VA?
#3. To: mininggold (#2)
A large majority of the heart disease AND the cancers listed (esp prostate and colo-rectal) occur in patients over 65 and hence they are eligible for and treated under Medicare.
#4. To: mininggold (#2)
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